Is it wrong to search for a dream in the dungeon?
by Comrade Prozac
Summary: AU where some things are the same but Güts is the main character (AKA the best AU)
1. Prolog

IS IT WRONG TO SEARCH FOR A DREAM IN THE DUNGEON?

Prolog

In the labyrinth there are many commodities that are rare, a comfortable place to rest is one of them. Solo adventurers and small parties would normally only stay on the dungeon half a day, gather as much magic stones and loot before returning back up to rest and turn the items into money. Larger parties and raids instead would set up camp in the most open areas and set up a watch to ward off monsters while the others rested.

But Güts would have none of that.

A solo adventurer, a former mercenary and werewolf who had joined no familia

He would go into the dungeon for days, barely sleeping if sleeping at all.

Right now he had found himself a niche on the wall and set up an incense that was meant to repel monsters and had fallen asleep hugging his oversized sword like a child would hold their favorite stuffed animal.

Sure that the repel item would work he slept easy, not fearing than others adventurers would try to steal from him, and if they did… well he had been a mercenary and wasn't afraid of taking the life of a man.

But his sleep was interrupted by a jab at his ribs.

An old man wearing an old cloak and an old hat, resting his weight on his old lance while stroking his old bear.

 _Old_ was the word that came to Güts mind as if it was engraved on his mind.

A single old eye shined in the shadow of the broad hat, a piercing look as sharp as that lance.

He looked down on the young werewolf.

"Pup, have you seen my mount around?" He asked with his old voice.

"Mount?" _So the adventurers can take horses down here? No one told me that!_ , he thought before remembering about the taming job. "What kind of monster you ride old man"

"Monster..." the old man rolled the word on his tongue before spitting "I wouldn't call him that, _he_ may not like you call him that, I ride a horse, the fastest horse that lives or will ever live"

 _This old man is senile_ Güts thought. "Aren't you too old for the dungeon _old_ man?"

"Am I?" the cloaked man asked himself once more before turning to go away "Maybe I am?"

"Wait" Güts stood placing his oversized sword over his shoulder and giving him a cocky smile "If I find your horse what would I gain? If he's really the fastest hose why wouldn't I keep it or sell it?"

"Yes, you will be rewarded" The old man said without turning "Take it to Loki, I heard he lives up there with his 「Familia」, take Slepnir to him and you will be rewarded"

"And how will I know what horse is _Slepnear_?"

"He's a special horse, you'll know it when you see him"

Güts thought about it for a moment as the old man kept on walking.

His 「Guild」 advisor had told him something about the many Familias of Orario, amongst them the Loki familia. Known for having some of the strongest members and one richest too. And that meant that he would get well paid.

Then something else came to his mind.

"Isn't Loki a woman?" He asked out loud.

From down the corridor came a loud laugh that startled him.

The old man laughed loudly, a laugh that _didn't_ sound _old._

"Is he now?" Came his voice sounding less _old._ "Well, doesn't matter, I'm sure _she_ will take care of him well, like a _mother_ would."

"Who are you anyway old man? A member of his Familia?".

"I'm just a _priest_ of raven-worship, but you can call me Fjolnir".

And with that the old man was gone.

Rested Güts decided to return to the surface to make good of all the magic stones and dropped items he had gathered in his expedition.

The gleam of gold distracted him from that.

At his feet sat a gold ring with strange runes engraved in them.

As he knelled to take it and discovered not only did he found a ring, but also some raven feathers and an all too familiar scent.

Blood, death, wolves, ravens and carrion birds, scorched earth, sweat tears, and shit.

The smell of a battlefield.

The smell that brought him a thirst for battle.

Without thinking the werewolf put on the ring on his right hand and descended deeper into the dungeon.

* * *

Authors note: this is but an experiment, I may or may not continue writing this but feedback is always welcome.


	2. Chapter 1: Fated Encounters

Chapter 1: Fated Encounters

"Somebody help!"

The roar of a beast.

The sound of metal on metal.

The sickening sound of crushing bones and ripping muscles.

A small party of adventurers had found themselves an 「Irregular」.

An albino orc wielding a pretty menacing battleaxe, the word 「Bazuso」 inscribed in the blade.

"Someone kill that thing!" A quite young, good looking and with some pretty expensive equipment shouted from behind everyone else in the party. Including the supporters

"Are you kidding? That's Bazuso the grey!"

"I heard that thing single handedly killed a 30 man party!"

"We have to get out of here!"

"You cowards! I'll pay you! I'll pay extra to whoever kills that thing!"

None of his men listened.

It had been a long and hard expedition for this small party, their mages were starting to suffer from mental exhaustion, the fighters were fatigued and the supports had depleted their healing items, and now what could have been their biggest reward, a named monster, was slaughtering them.

"How much" The words came from an adventurer that looked under equipped; heavy but rusted chest plate and shoulder pads, a pretty open helmet, worn out boots and some rags some could call pants. "How much is the life of your comrades worth?"

Güts knew the kind of leader the man on the shiny armor was, a _nobleman,_ annoying little shits but they had the money he needed to survive.

"F-f-five- I'll give you five thousand varisu if you kill that _thing"_

" _Fifty_ thousand and you get to keep the magic stone" Was the ex-mercenary's reply as he walked pass the leader of the party.

"Twenty! That's all I can give you!"

"Cheapskate"

But that didn't matter, after all, Güts already had that money worth of magic stones and loot from before, what he wanted was another battle, something to quench his bloodthirst that the old man's smell had give him and this beast may be able to give him that.

He walked past the man in shiny armor past the scared and sobbing supports, the mages too tired to express fear and the fighters that were doing all they could to stay alive and past the bloody mud to stand in front of the albino orc.

Now that he was in front of the party they could clearly see his oversized sword. As long as he was tall, a broad and thick blade.

"That blade! Can he actually use it"

"That must be just to show off"

"With that gear he looks like a novice adventurer"

"Should a novice be down here?"

"Maybe we should help him"

"Fuck that! Let's get out of here while the orc is distracted!"

Charging the beast Guts silenced the party with a swing of his sword, making it back down. Again and again, the young beast man swinged the oversized sword over his head, hitting the handle of the orc's battle axe, his shouts drowning the sound of metal striking metal.

"W-what a beast!"

"He's dominating it"

The orc had enough, no adventurer before had make him fall back before, and he sure was not going to let this little runt kill him, so just as Güts raised his sword he readied a blow, released a fearsome shout and aimed to behead him-

Only for both blades to to make contact. Not only that but the sword had embedded itself in the axe.

But there was no time to be surprised, as soon as both weapons were free both readied their strike, Güts aiming for the belly of the orc and it aimed for the head.

Both strike were almost simultaneous, and the tired party audibly gasped as the axe and helmet clashed, sparks flying.

For a moment most onlookers were sure that the newcomer was dead, after all, how could he survive such a blow to the head with such a blow to the head. But just as they were about to give up an ran away the cry from the orc stopped them.

When they realized what had happened Güts was already taking his sword from the belly of the beast, reading another blow. And just as the beast made a pathetic sound the sword came down killing it almost instantly.

It wasn't a pretty death, none of the adventurers seem to have been familiar with that kind of violence; Most averted their eyes, some of the mages lost their meals at the sight, and a couple of the supports fainted.

The werewolf's sword had become dulled, making the slash a non-clean one, smashing in the head of the orc, it's eyes popping out of their sockets.

"Does that familia really has a guy like that?" The battle had been observed by another group.

"Didn't you see? he just stumbled upon them and saved their sorry asses"

"He doesn't look like an adventurer, you think he's a mercenary?"

"Wondering which one of you is stronger?"

"Don't be ridiculous, he is no match from our leader, isn't that right Griffith".

The man wearing the round hawk faced helmet had kept silent for a moment playing with his bizarre looking pendant as he observed the battle.

"Let's go, the irregular is death, there's nothing here for us."

"Alright, we had a good run, and those guild officers thought that we wouldn't make it past the fifth floor".

* * *

Dealing with the party, specially with the leader had been a pain in the ass for Güts.

At first the party leader, a level 2 man named Robert, had tried to haggle the already promised reward; when he couldn't then he questioned the werewolf about his Familia; when Robert found out he didn't had one he tried to make Güts part of his.

In no time Güts was threatening Robert with physical violence.

In the end one of the supports, a Chienthrope, had to intervene. She was the one who ended up paying him his reward, plus an extra five thousand for not removing the leader's head, and telling the werewolf that there was a reward for killing the orc, and he could get paid by presenting the battle axe at the Guild Hall.

Twenty five thousand varisu, a large sized magic stone, and Bazuso's broken axe that would get him another reward, plus all the other magic stones and items already collected made this quite a good expedition for Güts.

Entering the 18th floor was always an experience for Güts, the first time he had reached the place he was almost sure that he was dreaming, an open area like this, it's forest, the crystal that shined like a sun at the top of the cave.

And just as he walked down a path to take him over to the surface, pushing away the memory of something that he once saw in a cold cell were one lonely flower once bloomed someone was watching him from afar.

"Isn't that the guy who killed Bazuso?"

"Is he going back up?"

"Probably going to collect that reward"

"We should have save that group, that way we would have gotten a reward and made a name for ourselves"

As the new adventurers looked over looked over from a slope another one, a dark haired, tall and thin man joined them, looking down at Güts with a shit eating grin. "Who says we can't? Let's just go down there, the three of five of us and take him out, take the axe and take the reward. What do you say guys?"

"I don't know, he did beat that thing by himself?"

"Come one, he's one, and probably tired, we can take him out, then we'll get rid of the body, what do you say Griffith?"

Behind them, a quite beautiful sight rested calmly on the grass; young and tall, androgynous, with long wavy white hair.

"Do whatever you want" Griffith responded calmly, with his beautiful young voice.

"You have no chance of winning" called a dark haired, dark eyed and dark skinned woman that was sitting on a rock.

"Just so you know Casca, I was planning on taking out that orc myself to become famous" Corkus replied with a cocky smile

"You are going to get yourself killed"

"We'll see"

Güts enjoyment of the momentary peace was interrupted by a war cry.

"Bandits" Came out from his mouth, and he was right a group of about five men were rushing over to him with killing intent in their eyes.

In no time one of them was already inside the werewolf's range of attack, and in no time his oversized sword had almost cut him in half.

Then another followed wielding a three headed flail, only to lose the hand that held it.

Corkus was speechless, the beastman had taken out two of his men in two swift movements without getting more than a scratch on the cheek from the flail.

"He killed Dan and Earl in two swings!"

"That guy is crazy strong!"

"I think Corkus is going to piss himself"

Casca sighed "I told them so"

"Casca" Griffith called "Go help him"

"But it's his own fault-!"

It didn't take more than a look to convince her.

This bandits weren't that good as bandits, or so Güts though, they had stopped and arguing about who was going to attack next, one of them was giving orders and so he decided to attack him first, just to shut him up.

He would have managed to cut off his head with one blow if someone hadn't shot a bolt on his right arm.

A slender figure, a helmet obscuring their face, came down from the slope were many onlookers were watching the fight.

"Corkus! Back off" Shouted Casca after discarding the crossbow she had used. "And thank Griffith that I came here to save your sorry ass".

 _No matter how many there are I'll take them all out_ were Güts thoughts, rushing towards this new opponent. In a moment he was over her, attacking with all the strenght his injured arm would let him.

Casca was taken by surprise, he attacked again and again, not caring about the bolt that was still sticking off his arm. More than that, he was incredibly strong, not surprise he had managed to break that orc's battle axe with a single blow, more than that, even with an injured arm his strength was incredible, and more than that he was skillful.

He was making her back down.

"Is Casca alright?"

"She's backing down!"

"I can't believe it, other than Griffith no one has defeated her!"

Casca was having a lot of trouble fighting, she could barely block his attacks with her shortsword and each time the swords clashed her sword vibrated, to the point that her hands were starting to go numb.

And while she endured the attack Güts planned a finishing move. Orienting her sword horizontally he plunged forward, aiming for the mercenary's head.

The only thing preventing Casca from losing her head was a stone that made her fall backwards.

Metal meet metal, the mercenary's helmet fell off from her head and for the first time Güts could see her face.

"A woman"

He had seen female adventurers before but she was different, she didn't had the presence of a female adventurer, but the one of a soldier, a rare sight on the battlefield.

But to Güts it didn't mattered men or women, they had seek out this fight and he was going to end it.

The thought and the rising sword was stopped by a spear that landed by his feet.

Not too far away from him a man in shiny armor stood, the round helmet's face shaped like a falcon's face. And unlike the previous party leader he had faced, this man exuded battle experience, from the way he stood to how he looked at the werewolf.

"Griffth!" Casca called from the ground "Be careful! He's skillful"

Griffith calmly walked towards the two, his sword sheathed, but by his body language Güts could tell he was ready to fight.

 _Griffith_ the beastman had heard that name before but he couldn't recall it.

"Would you so kindly put down your sword?" the leader of the mercenaries asked softly.

Güts responded by preparing to face him.

"I see"

It all happened in a blink of an eye.

Güts launched forward.

Griffith blocked the attack.

A sharp pain in Güts' left arm.

The sensation of falling.

The coldness of blood escaping the body.

"That idiot" Corkus said happily "No one can best Griffth in combat!"

"You are the idiot Corkus, this whole mess is your fault" said Casca.

 _No, it's not over_ Güts thought mustering all his strength he stood back up and raised his sword back up ready to strike again….

Only to fall forward unconscious.

Corkus screamed like a little girl.

* * *

Bell Cranel was a novice adventurer, with a wish, to meet interesting women at the 「Dungeon」 just like in all the stories his grandfather had told him. Meeting a minotaur, at least when he was still a low level adventurer was not part of that dream.

But it had happened, just as he had gone to explore the fifth floor, place where minotaurs didn't normally spawned.

Under leveled and under equipped there was only one thing to do: running away. But the minotaur, a monster that would be troublesome even for a prepared level 2 adventurer had giving him chase until cornering him.

And just as he was regretting not having meeting once a woman in the dungeon, just as the minotaur was ready to finish his dream the beast let out a scream that would only be properly described as the sound of a dying cow.

The minotaur felled over him, only stopped by the wall he had been backed into.

The smell of the beast and the beast's blood assaulted him before the strange smell of the monster's ashs filled him.

A magic stone fell on his lap.

He looked up to see a beautiful sight, white hair and blue eyes, delicate lips, and a delicate smile.

"Are you alright?" Griffith asked the young adventurer.


	3. Chapter 2: Fated Encounters part 2

Chapter 2: Fated Encounters part 2

「Irregulars」 in the 51st floor.

A 「Boss」-like irregular in the 50th.

It hadn't been a normal expedition for Aiz Wallenstein.

And then, just as they were prepared to leave they meet a large herd of minotaurs that had panicked when they had felt Bete, Tione and Tiona's bloodlust. A stampede of frightened monsters that would trample anything on their wake. Worse than that, they had taken the stairs to the upper floors where lower level adventurers were.

An order was issued, to prevent any casualties they would kill them all. The party members separated to prevent the minotaurs to move further up into the dungeon and to hunt down those who wandered into the floors.

Just as she and Bete, a silver haired werewolf, were about to reach the stairs leading to the fifth floor another irregular thing appeared before their eyes.

"Close that hole!" Shouted a woman.

A large group of at least 50 adventurers had gathered at the landing of the stairs and had managed to stop the stampede. That on itself was exceptional, but that alone wasn't what made them irregular in Aiz eyes, it was their gear and tactics. Their gear could only be described as _uniform_ something that was unusual even in well organized Familias, as each adventurer was in charge of their own gear; then it was their weapons, mostly lances, some sword and the occasional flail, all supported by crossbows.

There was not a sliver of magic amongst them.

"Caska" A calm yet firm voice called the dark haired woman. "Come with me, some managed to slip past us before we took formation"

"Understood! Corkus! You are not in command! Gaston! Make sure he doesn't screw up again!"

"Ay! Ay! Lady Caska! Give'em hell boys!"

Holding onto their shields they stopped the minotaurs while lances, swords and flails slaughtered those at the front, bolts raining over those at the back. Not only that, but because the minotaurs at the back pushed the ones at the front they had nowhere to run away to.

But from that position there was nothing they could do about those on the back that didn't pushed forward but ran away into the sixth floor. There was also the problem of those that had slipped past them, after all there were only two giving them chase.

Making her decision in a moment Aiz turned to her companion "Bete, help them from the back, make sure no minotaur escapes" After that she simply jumped over both the minotaurs and the adventurers.

And while the werewolf complained in no time he was doing as he had been told.

Guided by the terrified screams of whom she assumed to be a young girl she turned a corner only to see a minotaur getting stabbed on the back by the white haired man.

A single motion, elegant, precise and deadly.

The complete opposite of what she would have done.

Falling down the minotaur let out it's last breath, before turning into a pile of ash.

And under the ash there was someone, someone in need, someone alone.

For a moment Aiz was sure that the one under the ash had been herself.

* * *

"Are you alright?" was the question he had been asked.

He coughed out the ash on his mouth and looked up at… her? him? really it was kind of hard to tell for him.

"Can you stand?" He was offered a hand.

There was absolutely no reason for him to not accept the hand of this person, the air around him (yes, it was hard to tell but he's a man) is that of comfort and safety.

"Griffith!" Someone called and from down the hallway.

Bell saw a dark skinned woman running towards them, whipping the blood from her sword. _An amazon?_ Bell asked himself. He had never seen one in person but she did resemble the appearance of one as described by his grandfather.

"Casca, what's the situation?"

Practically right away the woman took notice of the boy, giving him a questioning look before presenting Griffith a horn emitting a red tinted light. "I killed the other two minotaurs, one of them dropped this".

"Good job Casca", the white haired man step aside and turn around to face Bell that couldn't do much else from looking like a scared bunny, not that his white hair and red eyes helped much, "Are you unhurt? can you tell me your name?"

"B-B-Bell- Bell Cranel!" he stuttered and said his name a bit louder than he had intended, which made him blush, not that they could notice under all the ash on his face.

Griffith bowed.

No it wasn't a bow, he actually bended down in an elegant manner to pick up the magic stone that the minotaur had dropped and had been lying at Bell's feet. And with such elegant movements he placed the stone in Bell hands.

"I'm sorry you were chased by that monster that we let pass, please take this"

Bell couldn't believe what had happened, part of him wanted to give it back, he couldn't just take it like that, there was no way he could just take something so valuable, something worth much more than what he had collected. And yet, other part of him wanted to just take it and ran away as fast as possible to cash it in, after all, his familia needed it, maybe with it his goddes wouldn't have to take as many jobs as she had already taken, maybe he could enjoy an actual meal without worrying too much over the price of the food.

"Is that alright sir?" The dark skinned beauty asked.

"Don't worry, it was a large herd, we'll get much more out of them, and besides, that horn could be more valuable than the stone itself".

While they exchanged words Bell hid behind the man named Griffith. Here he was, just a few meters from him was an exotic beauty, almost out of his dreams and he was hiding behind this man that had just saved his life.

"Casca!"

"Aiz"

A pair of voices were heard from another hallway, two men, one tall dark haired human and a slender grey haired werewolf rushed to them.

"You better not have left the others by themselves Corkus, like what happened with that werewolf"

"Nah, I have a report, the minotaurs have been exterminated, we didn't even need the help of this dog"

"Who are you calling dog?! You trash!"

"Who are you calling trash?! You mutt!"

Bell watched the two discuss, their words heating up more and more until they were interrupted by someone he hadn't notice before.

"Excuse me" a beautiful girl with long golden hair spoke to Griffith. "My name is Aiz Wallenstein, a member of the Loki Familia, I wanted to apologize for giving you trouble with those minotaurs".

"Oi! Why are you apologizing to this t-" the werewolf stated to say but was quickly silenced by a kick to the shins by Corkus and a cold stare by Casca.

"You shouldn't apologize to me", Griffith said sweetly, "Managing such numbers is not a problem for us, perhaps you should apologize to this young man"

And stepping aside he revealed Bell.

"Eh!?" was the only thing that came out from his mouth.

With a nod to Griffith Aiz bowed, ignoring the rude words off Bete "Please accept my apologies"

Another "Eeeeh~!?" came out from Bell's lips before finally he could react in another way.

By running away in embarrassment.

"He! And here I thought he was going to run away from Casca"

It was now the turn for Corkus to get kicked in the shins.

* * *

Aiz couldn't do anything as the young adventurer ran away, and she wondered why he had ran away. It was no good, it was the same with the others, even the members of her familia would keep away from her.

 _Am I that scary?_ Was the thought that troubled her mind.

Bete's laughter brought her back to reality.

"What a little shit!"

Ignoring his words Aiz inspected herself, only to see that her gauntlets were covered in the blood of monsters.

"Master Griffith" A new voice came, distracting the girl from her dark thoughts, a large dark skinned man came running from the same direction Bete and the man named Corkus came, over his shoulder a werewolf.

"He's getting worse" Was the only thing the man said before kneeling in front of Griffith.

A large werewolf, on his back a sword as large as him, with an impressive width and thickness. A weapon of that size and thickness would be commonly restricted for a second level adventurer due the strength required to wield it.

There was also a broken battleaxe with something inscribed on the blade.

Griffith walked over to this large man, and moving away the hair from his brow he came face to face with the werewolf, like a parent would do to a child.

"He's deadly cold"

Standing back up the white haired man nodded to the kneeling man who stood back up almost immediately.

"Good job Pippin, we'll take him back to the camp"

"What's with that weakling?" Bete asked rudely "Been carried on someone's back, he makes us werewolves look bad"

"Weakling?! Just so you know that man single handedly-!" Corkus started.

"He single handedly killed a beast named Bazuso" Casca interjected, so Corkus wouldn't say something he shouldn't.

"Then he shouldn't have fighted it, weak trash should just run away"

"You are wrong" Griffith responded, "He fought that beast and left unscratched"

"Then why is he like that?"

With a smile full of proud it was Corkus who answered, "Because he thought he could win on a fight against our leader, isn't that right Griffith"

"That's enough Corkus" Griffith said. "Tell Gaston and the rest to gather everyone, we are going back to the camp, Casca, you are coming with us"

With a nod both got ready and left almost immediately.

At this moment Aiz had figured out what was out of place with those people, they weren't just normal adventurers, they were 「Soldiers」.

And just as Corkus was leaving he said something completely preposterous for Bete and Aiz.

"It was fun for our first run in the dungeon"

* * *

Authors note: Criticism, suggestions, pointing me to spelling errors and so are welcome


	4. Intermission: Whetstone

Intermission: Whetstone

Oldman Fjolnir had a thirst.

As he kept on looking for his stead he meet a group of adventurers. Laughing and singing they had taken a moment to rest their tired bodies and enjoy what little food and drink they had.

The old man approached them and asked if any of them had mead. A single bottle had been shown to him but the adventurers had wanted something in return. Gold or magic stones, dropped items would be welcome too. One of them asked for his golden ring, another for his spear.

Thinking for a moment they old man offered to sharpen their weapons with a special whetstone in exchange for the mead.

They took their weapons and gave them to the old man.

Fjolnir worked sharpening the blades of daggers, swords, spears and axes as the adventurers continued to chat and laugh, boosting about how many barmaids they had taken to bed or how many monsters they had killed.

In the end each blade had been sharpened and the old man had received his mead.

They all admired the work of the old man and one of them offered to buy the whetstone for a hundred varisu.

Another offered a thousand.

Someone offered five thousand.

Ten thousand.

As the offer reached the hundred of thousands the old man threw the whetstone in the air and one of them managed to catch it only to lose the hand to one of the exceptionally sharp blades.

What continued was a blood bad, like possessed the adventurers fought to the death for a single whetstone while the Oldman Fjolnir observed, enjoying his mead.

Every member of that party died.

The old man took back his whetstone and left the empty bottle of mead in it's place.

Rumors quickly spread about that party, about what had came to them.

Some said a third party had ambushed them.

Some said that there's a monster that will make adventurers go mad and attack each other.

Some even said that there's a liquor in the dungeon of such quality that will drive those who taste it to kill only to have another drop.


End file.
